(CNN) - They may soon be fighting for the GOP presidential nomination, but for now Newt Gingrich is sticking up for Mitt Romney over his health care stance.

The Massachusetts health care plan enacted while Romney was governor of the state is often criticized by conservatives for its similarities to the health care bill passed by Congress last year. But former House Speaker Gingrich came to his defense.
"Governor Romney's made very clear that he favors absolute repeal of Obamacare and that he believes it's not accurate and not fair to try and compare the two," Gingrich said on CBN's "The Brody File."

Gingrich acknowledged that Romney's record will be "part of the dialogue."

"People will talk about my record and they'll talk about Mitt's record," Gingrich said. "Everybody's record will be up for grabs and it ought to be up for grabs."

He also mentioned the records of other Republicans including former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.

"You ought to have a chance to ask that person virtually anything and then render judgment," Gingrich told David Brody.

Gingrich, along with all the other mentioned names are considered potential 2012 presidential candidates.

soundoff(9 Responses)

Newt looks like he's a supersize fries away from a myocardial infarction. You shouldn't be allowed to opine on healthcare unless you can do a sit up.

November 15, 2010 05:17 pm at 5:17 pm |

annie s

What hypocrites. The ONLY difference between Romney's Healthcare bill for Massachusetts and the Health Care bill passed by Congress last year is that Congress was smart enough to include ways to pay for theirs.

November 15, 2010 05:20 pm at 5:20 pm |

Claudia, Houston, Tx

Newt needs to have a serious debate with that belly of his because so far it's winning.

November 15, 2010 05:39 pm at 5:39 pm |

Haren

It is good if it is republican idea but it is not good if democrats agree to it.

November 15, 2010 05:40 pm at 5:40 pm |

Haren

George Bush book should be in Crime section of all libraries and book store.

November 15, 2010 05:42 pm at 5:42 pm |

Adalbert

Newt, the biggest egomaniac in this country. His only real interests are money and power.

November 15, 2010 06:40 pm at 6:40 pm |

K, Mackinaw City

I think Romney could easily defend his health care model by saying it was a state-lead effort to reform a serious issue (the same way Gov. Brewer defends her immigration bill in AZ) as opposed to a sweeping national reform. I like Romney because he has proven his leadership ability on multiple stages (private sector, 2002 Olympics, governorship) and I wish he would defend his leadership decisions instead of resorting to talking points to please the GOP base. Of all the GOP candidates, he's the one who could best swing moderate votes (I can see him swinging Michigan, his home state, and possibly FL or VA, especially if you pair him with Rubio or Cantor as VP), but unfortunately the GOP is under the impression that everyone in the country loves conservatives, so they'll probably nominate Gingrich or Palin, which will be disappointing.

November 15, 2010 06:44 pm at 6:44 pm |

Tsah from Virginia

The Repubs are always justifying a WRONG as a RIGHT when it comes to them trying to prove something WRONG is RIGHT!!! And, ONLY RepubliCAN'Ts can do that and TRY to get away with it.... We're too smart for that!